LIFESTYLE: STUDENT MONEY SAVING TIPS

January is FINALLY coming to an end (I swear it should be April by now!), and that probably means that if you received money for Christmas, you’ve probably spent it by now, and your student loan, well I think we all know that sometimes, that money just doesn’t last for long!

All in all, I’m here to answer your prayers and to help you save money almost everyday! Being a student can be financially difficult, for instance, paying for your weekly shop, paying for club entry, paying for academic resources etc etc. I know that when I first started university, I didn’t really know where to start when it came to saving money, but here I am, just months away from graduating and I’ve successful saved more money than I could have ever imagined back in 2015!

1) OPEN A NEW BANK ACCOUNT

Having two separate bank accounts has probably been my saviour when it comes to finances, so here’s my top tip. If you have a part time job, open a separate bank account, have your wages paid into the separate one, and only ever withdraw if it’s urgent!
If you don’t have a job, not to worry! I like to put some of my loan into my other bank account and I refuse to touch it, over time, the money will build up, and hopefully you’ll be left with a satisfactory amount of money once you graduate.

2) WALK OR CYCLE – DO NOT TAKE THE BUS

If you live off campus, the likelihood is, is that somedays you won’t feel like walking or cycling to university, you’d much rather take the bus, especially when its cold, windy, rainy, snowing, and all of the other weather conditions that we love to hate! However, that £1.50 single that you didn’t think was that much, that adds up over time! Before you know it, you’ve spent over £10 in two weeks, for what? A ten minute bus journey? The same goes for going into the town or city that you’re based in, I live a twenty minute walk away from my city centre, and although that sounds like a long walk, it saves me a lot of money, and most importantly, walking counts as exercise! So ditch that bus, put on a warm coat and put your walking shoes on!

3) WHO SAID YOU NEEDED THAT £40 PER MONTH GYM MEMBERSHIP?

I don’t know much about other universities or city gyms, but I do know people who pay £40 per month and more for their gym membership! I do understand the importance of a gym membership, I love going to the gym and love the feeling after I’ve worked out BUT there are thousands of at home workouts that you can do without paying any fee! YouTube is home to numerous fitness vloggers and easy to follow workouts, and I can guarantee that you’ll still be able to see results and maintain your fitness if you work out at home, because I do!

4) CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE

If you’re like me, your purse or wallet will have a ridiculous amount of 5ps, 10ps etc etc. Although singular this isn’t a lot of money, they all add up! I once emptied my purse and counted £60! So to save money, why not take £3 out of your purse each week, put it to the side, and then see how much you can save! If you don’t have £3 in change, then just take any amount and continue to set this aside each week, I can guarantee that you’ll be surprised at how much you’ve saved in the end!

5) SHOPPING VOUCHERS AND STUDENT DISCOUNT

So the whole concept of shopping vouchers are still very new to me, however, I’ve been so oblivious to how efficient they are! You can find many vouchers online, for instance, discounts and free delivery! Although when we check out we sometimes don’t mind paying £3 for delivery, but overtime that also adds up, so free delivery is always a good thing!

Student discounts are some of my favourite things, NUS and Unidays always have a vast range of discounts for many hughstreet retailers! I mean, come on, who doesn’t love a cheeky 15% discount? So make sure that you make the most of your time being a student and use your discounts effectively!

So there you have it, my top five tips, I hope at least one of these tips will help you! Happy saving!

6 thoughts on “LIFESTYLE: STUDENT MONEY SAVING TIPS”

Great tips! I totally agree with the gym membership one as there’s great HIIT workouts on YouTube which I think are way more effective! Using vouchers is also a great idea I’m a stickler for a bit of discount! xx.

I’d say my favorite tip from all of those is the gym membership one! In the past, I’ve paid so much money out to gyms when the type of things I was doing there I could just do at home! Now I do yoga and short resistance intervals for my workouts, no gym necessary. Great tips!

I love this post. Whilst I am not a student, saving money is really important to me. This has some great ideas, I totally agree about the gym membership – I think you can do just as good workouts at home/for free!

I totally agree with the gym membership! Although now back at university I have the gym a few steps away from me, when I was on break, I was a bit confused on what to do in terms of exercise if I didn’t have machines and treadmills. Thankfully YouTube helped a lot in terms of home workouts to make sure I kept active!